Cross expects House to pass pension bill in November

Thursday

Oct 27, 2011 at 12:01 AMOct 27, 2011 at 1:39 AM

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said he will be ready to call a bill to set up a three-tiered pension system for state workers during the second week of the legislature’s veto session, which starts Nov. 8. But demonstrations against Cross’ bill, among other employee funding issues, resulted in the Statehouse being closed for about 10 minutes Wednesday as thousands of union members packed the rotunda.

CHRIS WETTERICH

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said he will be ready to call a bill to set up a three-tiered pension system for state workers during the second week of the legislature’s veto session, which starts Nov. 8.

But demonstrations against Cross’ bill, among other employee funding issues, resulted in the Statehouse being closed for about 10 minutes Wednesday as thousands of union members packed the rotunda.

Cross said the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group of the city’s top CEOs, has brokered a deal in which House Republicans would provide 30 votes for the pension bill, Senate Bill 512, and House Democrats would provide another 30. Sixty votes are needed for legislation to pass the House.

The Senate is another story. Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, says the pension bill is unconstitutional, although he has not ruled out allowing a vote in his chamber.

3 options

The bill would offer current teachers, university employees and state workers three pension options: Stay in the current system but pay significantly more, go into a second tier for workers hired after Jan. 1 that has reduced benefits or choose a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, supports the Cross plan. Madigan, Cross and business groups representing Illinois’ largest corporations say that, without changes, the money owed to the state pension systems will eat up an increasingly larger share of the state budget, crowding out other services.

Henry Haupt, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, said about 1,000 people were in the Statehouse and 2,000 more were on the Capitol grounds when entrances to the building were closed shortly before 1 p.m.

Haupt said more people had to be barred because secretary of state police feared they would not be able to move people out quickly in an emergency.

“It was just so congested. That’s our rationale. The west wing is closed due to construction. We have one fewer exit, one fewer entrance. Twenty-five percent of the building is not occupyable at this time,” Haupt said.

Unions demonstrate

Members of the labor movement ranging from police officers to firefighters to state workers to health care workers were among the demonstrators. They carried signs saying, “Collective Bargaining is the American Way,” “Gov. Quinn keep your word,” “Protect our pension. We paid our share. You pay yours.” and “Don’t CROSS us.” At least a dozen buses that transported protesters, most from the Chicago area, were parked outside the Capitol.

Cross called the pension debate “an incredibly emotional issue.”

“The e-mails I’ve gotten have been the worst I’ve ever gotten in my time in the General Assembly – threatening in a variety of ways from physical to political,” he said. “We’re doing everybody a disservice if we put our head in the sand on the issue.”

Quinn also has enraged AFSCME and other state unions by canceling their scheduled 2 percent pay raises for this year, saying the legislature did not appropriate enough money for the raises. The raise issue is before the courts.

Rolando Virella, 40, a Chicago police patrolman who was holding an anti-Cross signs, said working conditions are already tough in police stations across the state because of budgetary cutbacks.

“We have a rough job,” Virella said. “It’s the one thing we look forward to when we retire – security for us and our families. This is our worst nightmare.”

Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said at the rally said that the state should adjust its tax code so that more of the burden falls on the rich.

“We are not demons,” Bayer said. “We are not responsible for the collapse of this economy. We are sick and tired of being blamed for what Wall Street did.”

Chris Wetterich can be reached at (217) 788-1523.

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